• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제53권5호
• /
• pp.957-979
• /
• 2015

The present paper investigates the influence of the orientation of the ground-motion reference axes, the seismic incident angle and the seismic intensity level on the inelastic response of asymmetric reinforced concrete buildings. A single storey asymmetric building is analyzed by nonlinear dynamic analyses under twenty bi-directional ground motions. The analyses are performed for many angles of incidence and four seismic intensity levels. Moreover three different pairs of the horizontal accelerograms corresponding to the input seismic motion are considered: a) the recorded accelerograms, b) the corresponding uncorrelated accelerograms, and c) the completely correlated accelerograms. The nonlinear response is evaluated by the overall structural damage index. The results of this study demonstrate that the inelastic seismic response depends on the orientation of the ground-motion reference axes, since the three individual pairs of accelerograms corresponding to the same ground motion (recorded, uncorrelated and completely correlated) can cause different structural damage level for the same incident angle. Furthermore, the use of the recorded accelerograms as seismic input does not always lead to the critical case of study. It is also shown that there is not a particular seismic incident angle or range of angles that leads to the maximum values of damage index regardless of the seismic intensity level or the ground-motion reference axes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제8권5호
• /
• pp.1241-1254
• /
• 2015

Spatially variable ground motions can be significant on the seismic response of a structure due to the incoherency of the incident wave. Incoherence of the incident wave is resulted from wave passage and wave scattering. In this study, wave passage effect on the response spectrum of a building structure built on a soft soil layer was investigated utilizing a finite element program of P3DASS (Pseudo 3-dimensional Dynamic Analysis of a Structure-soil System). P3DASS was developed for the axisymmetric problem in the cylindrical coordinate, but it is modified to apply anti-symmetric input earthquake motions. Study results were compared with the experimental results to verify the reliability of P3DASS program for the shear wave velocity of 250 m/s and the apparent shear wave velocities of 2000-3500 m/s. Studied transfer functions of input motions between surface mat foundation and free ground surface were well-agreed to the experimental ones with a small difference in all frequency ranges, showing some reductions of the transfer function in the high frequency range. Also wave passage effect on the elastic response spectrum reduced the elastic seismic response of a SDOF system somewhat in the short period range.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제23권3호
• /
• pp.285-302
• /
• 2017

Buckling-restrained braced frames (BRBFs) are commonly used as the lateral force-resisting systems in building structures in the seismic regions. The nearly-symmetric hysteretic response and the delayed brace core fracture of buckling-restrained braces (BRBs) under the axial cyclic loading provide the adequate lateral force and deformation capacity to BRBFs under the earthquake excitation. However, the smaller axial stiffness of BRBs result in the undesirable higher residual drift response of BRBFs in the post-earthquake scenario. Two alternative approaches are investigated in this study to improve the elastic axial stiffness of BRBs, namely, (i) by shortening the yielding cores of BRBs; and (ii) by reducing the BRB assemblies and adding the elastic brace segments in series. In order to obtain the limiting yielding core lengths of BRBs, a modified approach based on Coffin-Manson relationship and the higher mode compression buckling criteria has been proposed in this study. Both non-linear static and dynamic analyses are carried out to analytically evaluate the seismic response of BRBFs fitted with short-core BRBs of two medium-rise building frames. Analysis results showed that the proposed brace systems are effective in reducing the inter-story and residual drift response of braced frames without any significant change in the story shear and the displacement ductility demands.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제46권5호
• /
• pp.695-711
• /
• 2013

It is reasonable to assume that reinforced concrete (RC) structures enter the nonlinear range of response during a severe ground motion. Numerical analysis to predict the behaviour therefore must allow for the presence of nonlinear deformations if an accurate estimate of seismic response is aimed. Among the factors contributing to inelastic deformations, the influence of the degradation of the bond slip phenomenon is important. Any rebar slip generates an additional rotation at the end regions of structural members which are not accounted for in a conventional analysis. Although these deformations could affect the seismic response of RC structures considerably, they are often neglected due to the unavailability of suitable models. In this paper, the seismic response of two types of RC structures, designed according to the Iranian concrete code (ABA) and the Iranian seismic code (2800), are evaluated using nonlinear dynamic and static analyses. The investigation is performed using nonlinear dynamic and static pushover analysis considering the deformations due to anchorage slip. The nonlinear analysis results confirm that bond slip significantly influences the seismic behavior of RC structure leading to an increase of lateral deformations by up to 30% depending on the height of building. The outcomes also identify important parameters affecting the extent of this influence.

• Coupled systems mechanics
• /
• 제9권2호
• /
• pp.183-200
• /
• 2020

Connection of adjacent buildings with stiff links is an efficient approach for seismic pounding mitigation. However, use of highly rigid links might alter the torsional response in asymmetric plans and although this was mentioned in the literature, no quantitative study has been done before to investigate the condition numerically. In this paper, the effect of rigid coupling on the elastic lateral-torsional response of two adjacent one-story column-type buildings has been studied by comparison to uncoupled structures. Three cases are considered, including two similar asymmetric structures, two adjacent asymmetric structures with different dynamic properties and a symmetric system adjacent to an adjacent asymmetric one. After an acceptable validation against the actual earthquake, the traditional random vibration method has been utilized for dynamic analysis under Ideal white noise input. Results demonstrate that rigid coupling may increase or decrease the rotational response, depending on eccentricities, torsional-to-lateral stiffness ratios and relative uncoupled lateral stiffness of adjacent buildings. Results are also discussed for the case of using identical cross section for all columns supporting eachplan. In contrast to symmetric systems, base shear increase in the stiffer building may be avoided when the buildings lateral stiffness ratio is less than 2. However, the eccentricity increases the rotation of the plans for high rotational stiffness of the buildings.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• 제32권5호
• /
• pp.405-421
• /
• 2021

To gain insight into the wind-induced safety concerns associated with attached tower cranes during the construction of super-tall buildings, a 606 m level frame-core tube super-tall building is selected to investigate the wind-induced vibration response and fragility of an outer-attached tower crane at all stages of construction. The wind velocity time history samples are artificially generated and used to perform dynamic response analyses of the crane to observe the effects of wind velocity and wind direction under its working and non-working resting state. The adverse effects of the relative displacement response at different connection supports are also identified. The wind-resistant fragility curves of the crane are obtained by introducing the concept of incremental dynamic analysis. The results from the investigation indicate that a large relative displacement between the supports can substantially amplify the response of the crane at high levels. Such an effect becomes more serious when the lifting arm is perpendicular to the plane of the connection supports. The flexibility of super-tall buildings should be considered in the design of outer-attached tower cranes, especially for anchorage systems. Fragility analysis can be used to specify the maximum appropriate height of the tower crane for each performance level.

• 한국건축시공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국건축시공학회 2023년도 가을학술발표대회논문집
• /
• pp.227-228
• /
• 2023

A floating floor generally consists of mortar bed separated from the structural RC slab by a continuous resilient layer. It is known that the floating floors are a type of vibration-isolation system to improve the impact sound insulation performance. However, some researchers have demonstrated that the amplification of vibration response at a specific range of frequencies results in an increase in the impact sound level. This study carried out the forced vibration tests to obtain the frequency response function (FRF) of a floating floor compared with a bare RC slab. Test results shows that the additional peak occur in vibrational spectrum of the floating floor except natural vibration modes of the bare RC slab. This is because the relatively flexible resilient material and mass of the mortar bed offer an additional degree of freedom in the structural system. Therefore, it could be efficient for reduction of floor impact vibration and noise to control the additional mode frequency and response of floating floors.

• Wind and Structures
• /
• 제16권1호
• /
• pp.1-23
• /
• 2013

The wind-induced transient response of internal pressure following the creation of a sudden dominant opening during the occurrence of high external pressure, in low-rise residential and industrial buildings was numerically investigated. The values of the ill-defined parameters namely the flow contraction coefficient, loss coefficient and the effective slug length were calibrated by matching the analytical response with the computational fluid dynamics predictions. The effect of a sudden i.e., "instantaneously created" windward opening in the Texas Technical University (TTU) test building envelope was studied for two different envelope flexibility-leakage combinations namely: (1) a quasi-statically flexible and non-porous envelope and (2) a quasi-statically flexible and porous envelope. The responses forced by creating the openings at different time leads/lags with respect to the occurrence of the peak external pressure showed that for cases where the openings are created in close temporal proximity to the peak pressure, the transient overshoot values of internal pressure could be higher than the peak values of internal pressure in the pre-sequent or subsequent resonant response. In addition, the influence of time taken for opening creation on the level of overshoot was also investigated for the TTU building for the two different envelope characteristics. Non-dimensional overshoot factors are presented for a variety of cavity volume-opening area combinations for (1) buildings with rigid/quasi-statically flexible non-porous envelope, and (2) buildings with rigid/quasi-statically flexible and porous envelope (representing most low rise residential and industrial buildings). While the factors appear slightly on the high side due to conservative assumptions made in the analysis, a careful consideration regarding the implication of the timing and magnitude of such overshoots during strong gusts, in relation to the steady state internal pressure response in cyclonic regions, is warranted.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• 제6권4호
• /
• pp.375-392
• /
• 2014

Time history analyses have been preferred commonly in earthquake engineering area to determine earthquake performances of structures in recent years. Advances in computer technology and structural analysis have led to common usage of time history analyses. Eurocode 8 allows the use of real earthquake records as an input for linear and nonlinear time history analyses of structures. However, real earthquake records with the desired characteristics sometimes may not be found, for example depending on soil classes, in this case artificial and synthetic earthquake records can be used for seismic analyses rather than real records. Selected earthquake records should be scaled to a code design spectrum to reduce record to record variability in structural responses of considered structures. So, scaling of earthquake records is one of the most important procedures of time history analyses. In this paper, four real earthquake records are scaled to Eurocode 8 design spectrums by using SESCAP (Selection and Scaling Program) based on time domain scaling method and developed by using MATLAB, GUI software, and then scaled and real earthquake records are used for linear time history analyses of a six-storied building. This building is modeled as spatial by SAP2000 software. The objectives of this study are to put basic procedures and criteria of selecting and scaling earthquake records in a nutshell, and to compare the effects of scaled earthquake records on structural response with the effects of real earthquake records on structural response in terms of record to record variability of structural response. Seismic analysis results of building show that record to record variability of structural response caused by scaled earthquake records are fewer than ones caused by real earthquake records.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• 제51권3호
• /
• pp.447-470
• /
• 2014

Numerical simulation of the non-linear behavior of (RC) structural walls subjected to severe earthquake ground motions requires a reliable modeling approach that includes important material characteristics and behavioral response features. The objective of this paper is to optimize a simplified method for the assessment of the seismic response and damage development analyses of an RC structural wall building using macro-element model. The first stage of this study investigates effectiveness and ability of the macro-element model in predicting the flexural nonlinear response of the specimen based on previous experimental test results conducted in UCLA. The sensitivity of the predicted wall responses to changes in model parameters is also assessed. The macro-element model is next used to examine the dynamic behavior of the structural wall building-all the way from elastic behavior to global instability, by applying an approximate Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA), based on Uncoupled Modal Response History Analysis (UMRHA), setting up nonlinear single degree of freedom systems. Finally, the identification of the global stiffness decrease as a function of a damage variable is carried out by means of this simplified methodology. Responses are compared at various locations on the structural wall by conducting static and dynamic pushover analyses for accurate estimation of seismic performance of the structure using macro-element model. Results obtained with the numerical model for rectangular wall cross sections compare favorably with experimental responses for flexural capacity, stiffness, and deformability. Overall, the model is qualified for safety assessment and design of earthquake resistant structures with structural walls.